Most utility providers measure the usage of energy or gas or water through devices called meters. These meters may be electro-mechanical or electronic or a combination of both. Most utilities obtain monthly meter readings for the purposes of rendering a bill based on the consumption measured by the meter. Obtaining meter readings can be a laborious and costly process for the utility, as historically meter reading required individuals going house to house and manually reading the meter and recording the results.
Recently, newer technologies have allowed for remote automation of the meter reading process. These technologies include public and private network communications, fixed radio frequency (RF) meter reading, meter reading over a power line carrier and even satellite meter reading. These meter reading technologies are centered on the process of obtaining a monthly meter reading, which is part of the larger system process of billing. As technology continues to expand toward increased data throughput and reducing size and cost of the required devices, expanding capabilities of meter information have emerged, resulting in changes in the way utilities think of metering information.
Previously, devices performing these automatic metering functions were required to use one specific communication methodology protocol. Most devices were only capable of one way communication, i.e., from the meter back to the utility. Existing metering technologies have focused on the measuring function of meter reading and have not considered other important aspects of the electric system networks that are dynamically occurring at the customer premises. The present invention takes advantage of the broadband technologies now available to render to the utility, and to the customer, vital information about the quality of the electric service being provided.
A disadvantage of the historical metering approach is that metering has been viewed as only the “cash register” for the utility. Hence utilities have not been focused on the benefits of communicating to the meter, and instead have targeted merely receiving information from the meter. Utilities typically render a bill to their customers monthly and the customers have no way of validating energy use unless they want to dispute the bill. With broadband technologies now available to the home, the present invention allows the utility to interrogate the electric system at the premises in near real time. This encompasses much more than meter reading or measuring voltage as historically performed, and also includes information about voltage anomalies, load profiling and estimation, and energy efficiency estimation. The present invention allows a true near-real-time diagnostic system of the utility service which now opens the door for a variety of applications to help not only the utility provide better service, but to also allow the customer for the first time to have the necessary information to help control energy consumption and improve efficiency.